posted at 12:01 am on March 5, 2010 by Ed Morrissey

As Andy Levy said on Twitter a little while ago, the most surprising part of the Washington Post scoop isn’t the decision to put Khalid Sheikh Mohammed into the military commission system. It’s that the White House didn’t wait until Friday night to leak it to the press:

President Obama’s advisers are nearing a recommendation that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, be prosecuted in a military tribunal, administration officials said, a step that would reverse Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s plan to try him in civilian court in New York City.

The president’s advisers feel increasingly hemmed in by bipartisan opposition to a federal trial in New York and demands, mainly from Republicans, that Mohammed and his accused co-conspirators remain under military jurisdiction, officials said. While Obama has favored trying some terrorism suspects in civilian courts as a symbol of U.S. commitment to the rule of law, critics have said military tribunals are the appropriate venue for those accused of attacking the United States.

If Obama accepts the likely recommendation of his advisers, the White House may be able to secure from Congress the funding and legal authority it needs to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and replace it with a facility within the United States. The administration has failed to meet a self-imposed one-year deadline to close Guantanamo.

The administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the president’s legal advisers are finalizing their review of the cases of Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators.

Practically speaking, the White House has no other realistic options. New York City refused to hold the trial there, and no other federal jurisdiction would be likely to volunteer itself. In terms of jurisdiction, the only other court choice would be the district which includes Washington DC, which would mean a circus atmosphere in the nation’s capital for the better part of two years at the same time the federal government needs to keep operating. Note well that this option never did get floated out as a serious trial balloon. That leaves the military commissions — and an embarrassing retreat for the Obama administration.

The Post reports that the White House hopes to make headway on closing the detention center in Guantanamo Bay by reversing itself. That seems rather unlikely, especially since the fight over the criminal trials has made any movement of terrorists to the US even more politically fraught than before. The leaks from the White House emphasize the work they have been doing with Republican Senator (and Gitmo critic) Lindsey Graham, but Graham isn’t apparently biting, since they also acknowledge that Graham has limited his involvement to the Mohammed trial and issues surrounding Gitmo.

Politically, this creates a number of questions, chief among them the future of Attorney General Eric Holder. No one doubted that Barack Obama was committed to using federal courts to adjudicate the cases of Gitmo detainees; he campaigned against the military commission system in the Democratic primaries. As soon as Holder announced the KSM decision and political heat began to build, the White House placed all of the responsibility for the decision on Holder, claiming that the AG hadn’t consulted the White House at all.

By overruling Holder after letting him twist in the wind that way, they will have effectively emasculated him to the DoJ staff and humiliated him on the national stage. Obama may not want to get rid of Holder, but it’s hard to see how he can remain at Justice after such a public setback. Either he leaves with some modicum of dignity, or he stays while tacitly admitting that he’s screwed up the biggest issue he was asked to handle.

This may have some impact on the health-care debate as well. There have been suggestions that Obama would sacrifice his progressives and hoodwink the House into passing the Senate bill without seriously attempting to get the fixes House Democrats want made through reconciliation. After this retreat, Obama won’t dare cross the progressives on ObamaCare now — but they may be angry enough to demand a do-over to restore the public option. Just when Obama needed the Left to sit quietly so he could pass something on health care, he will enrage them on a key cause.

Of course, Obama wouldn’t have gotten into this fix if he had actually studied the logistics of the decision before making it. This is Obama’s failure, and he will live with the consequences, even if he finally comes to the correct conclusion.

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Either he leaves with some modicum of dignity, or he stays while tacitly admitting that he’s screwed up the biggest issue he was asked to handle.

I don’t think “dignity” and Holder travel in the same circles. My guess is that he holds on to the AG title until his fingers bleed, but that ultimately (as in a couple of months from now) he will become convinced (by some serious Rahmbo arm-twisting) that he needs to spend more time with his family.

Overrule Holder? It was Obama decision in the first place to place these scum bags in the federal system .Anybody who thinks Holder made that decision on his own is crazy.This man child will blame anything on anybody and will never take responsibility for anything.God help us survive for the next 3 years.

Funny how the administration second guesses the Department of Jihad (DOJ) the very same day a Congressman starts asking questions about the number of appointees in the administration previously represented the terrorists against the US government.

By overruling Holder after letting him twist in the wind that way, they will have effectively emasculated him to the DoJ staff and humiliated him on the national stage. Obama may not want to get rid of Holder, but it’s hard to see how he can remain at Justice after such a public setback. Either he leaves with some modicum of dignity, or he stays while tacitly admitting that he’s screwed up the biggest issue he was asked to handle.

Well, Obama has yet to resign. He has screwed up bigger issues than Holder.

Boy! The Nutroots are going to have kittens over this! I can’t wait to watch them freak out.

The only success of the Obama administration is implementation of Cloward Piven…Outside of that it is a complete and utter failure. I’m just waiting for Obama to do something illegal and get caught(you know it’s either already happened or is well on the way. These lefty statist communists need a Watergate of their own, and we need a second president to resign in shame. This clown is more Nixonian than Nixon…….

This administration is a ‘success’ in so much as the damage they are doing behind the scenes.

Dawn Johnsen and her ilk are polluting the court system, Cass Sunstein etc…and the massive redistribution of wealth (let’s call it reparations) via bogus programs like the “home weatherization” program are moving at light speed.

Make no mistake as to the damage the progressive rats are doing to us.

This is what happens when you keep an eye on a prize without considering all implications. BO wanted to put GW’s admin on trial….no matter what. Unfortunately, when BO removed his finger from his ___ and held it in the air, the wind wasn’t blowing in his favor. Holder was just a pawn who now has to shuffle along.

This is what happens when you keep an eye on a prize without considering all implications. BO wanted to put GW’s admin on trial….no matter what. Unfortunately, when BO removed his finger from his ___ and held it in the air, the wind wasn’t blowing in his favor. Holder was just a pawn who now has to shuffle along.

jbh45 on March 5, 2010 at 7:51 AM

You are correct, this has always been about putting Bush and his policies on trial. He was attempting to appease the radical left of left wing of the Dem party and it backfired big time, now he has to face the back lash. The problem I see is that he never even had to think about doing anything. He could have just kept giving them sound bites about closing GTIMO and trials, cause they are never going to vote for anyone except a Dem. He could have just done nothing and won.

The filthy lying coward in the White House isn’t fit enough to be mentioned in the same sentence as Nixon. He is more “Carterian” than Carter.

highhopes on March 5, 2010 at 7:04 AM

Yeah, Nixon was ok, if a bit too liberal. Anyway, Obarfa is the best thing that ever happened to Carter. Now instead of going down in history as America’s worst Pres., Carter simply will be forgotten. Why does God still like Jimmuh?

Also: this will allow O-Bama-Lama-Ding-Dong to ditch Holder for something other than all his shameful ties to Gitmo detainees, failure to prosecute the New Black Panther Party electioneering thugs, etc. A more “palatable” way to throw him under the bus, if you will.

Yeah, Nixon was ok, if a bit too liberal. Anyway, Obarfa is the best thing that ever happened to Carter. Now instead of going down in history as America’s worst Pres., Carter simply will be forgotten. Why does God still like Jimmuh?

JiangxiDad on March 5, 2010 at 8:05 AM

If you mashed together Nixon and Carter and added a little brown food coloring, you get Obama.

Michelle Malkin has the video of the “confession” of KSM on her site this morning. It’s 15 minutes long and he admitted to 30 yes 30 different attempts to kill former presidents, bombings, and plots to blow up buildings here in the US and around the world. I was shocked not by his admission but by the grand scope of terror that was planned not just for Americans but for the world. It is worth a watch.

I’ve got to go with Lionel Ritchie.
The part I can’t figure out is Holder’s got the DOJ stocked with terrorist defenders. If all these guys are sitting in the DOJ waiting to do whatever it is they are there to do and they don’t get the KSM fiasco, what are they going to be doing there? Picking noses until the Black Panthers have another election intimidation or are they going back after Bush/Cheney/Rove?
Holder is not going under the bus. He is exactly what Obama wants in that position.

McCarthey has a good piece over at The Corner on NRO. He says Obama is Duping Lindsey Grahm into giving up GITMO. Interesting.
percysunshine on March 5, 2010 at 8:21 AM

saw that on twitter too. My theory is that some people have an abnormal attraction to power. (I see that in WH correspondants who are so fascinated to be traveling the world with the President, that they forget their professions.) It’s heady stuff to go to the WH, etc, and be deemed a “player.” I’m all for legal term limits, (with the option of re-election after a certain amt. of time out of office.) And WH reporters ought to be of the Krauthammer type–very hard to impress no matter how splendid the BS.

He wants to build another Gitmo on US soil? How does he think he’s going to pay for that? Paging Sen. Bunning. We spent millions building that cushy facility for scumbags to be housed and there is nothing wrong with Gitmo. I wish I lived on a lush tropical island right now and didn’t have to cook my own meals. Watch Holder to see if he develops an eye tic.

B-b-b-but that’s why Holder hired all those lawyers who defended terrorists. The plan was not to prosecute, the plan was to defend with a bad prosecution. So now what???

As for the public option, I saw on the news this morning that a Senator, or Rep from Arizona, not sure which as I didn’t hear, but he let the cat out of the bag by saying Obama told him, and others that once his health care passes, they’d work on inserting the public option. It’s far from dead in the mind of the brain dead president.

The Department of Jihad has yet to give up the idea that terrorists need to be dealt with as terrorists. If the venue changes it is because the filthy lying coward in the White House understands the POLITICAL ramifications of continuing to do what he really wants to do. He can get by with his “hug a terrorist” program or ram healthcare through by devious measures. He can’t do both.

I’m trying to figure out which cheesy Top 40 musician from the 80’s Eric Holder reminds me of but I’m drawing a blank. Any ideas?

Sharke on March 5, 2010 at 12:42 AM

Holder reminds me of Ron Brown. The Clinton official who conveniently died in a plane crash just before he was about to bring a scandal down on the White House in the pre-stained blue dress days of that administration.

This has got to be the worst president ever. Just about every policy he has put forth nobody wants, he has missed his own deadlines, he backtracks on his decisions. He is an embarrassment. The worst part is we have three more years of this. Its frustrating to see how much time the WH wastes.

No one doubted that Barack Obama was committed to using federal courts to adjudicate the cases of Gitmo detainees; he campaigned against the military commission system in the Democratic primaries. </blockquote

Hey: If the president can (publicly) flip on the sanctity of the filibuster, he can flip on this too. No big surprise.

I’m trying to figure out which cheesy Top 40 musician from the 80’s Eric Holder reminds me of but I’m drawing a blank. Any ideas? I know he looks a little like Oprah’s boyfriend but there’s someone else I can’t put my finger on.

There have been suggestions that Obama would sacrifice his progressivessocialist/commnunist agenda and hoodwink the House into passing the Senate bill without seriously attempting to get the fixes House Democrats want made through reconciliation. After this retreat, Obama won’t dare cross the progressives socialist on ObamaCare now